Measurements

Place of origin

Collection

On show at

Caption

By the mid twentieth century, Hampstead was known as a neighbourhood of artists and intellectuals. Goldfinger himself kept company with Surrealist artists such as Max Ernst, who painted this diptych, and Roland Penrose, a fellow Hampstead resident whom he knew from his Paris days.

Summary

Oil painting on canvas, Le passé et le présent (Past and Present) (diptych) by Max Ernst (Brühl 1891 – Paris 1976), 1932-34. The left hand panel depicting a man's head on a blue background with waved lines within the head. The right hand panel mirroring the left but on a background comprising geometric and curvilinear lines bisecting each other and dividing the ground into areas of bold colour. Within a simple stained pine frame, with a vertical stretcher dividing the two panels of the painting.

Provenance

Acquired by Goldfinger in 1934; initially on loan from the Goldfinger family since 1994, formally purchased by the National Trust in 2000